computer science

National Centre for Computing Education

National Centre for Computing Education is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand National Centre for Computing Education rather than just read about it. In short: The National Centre for Computing Education is a government-funded initiative, offering teacher training and resources for computing. Function The National Centre for Computing Education provides professional development in computing education for primary and secondary schools and colleges, including face-to-face courses around England, and remote and online courses.

Key takeaways

National Centre for Computing Education belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect National Centre for Computing Education to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of National Centre for Computing Education from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The National Centre for Computing Education is a government-funded initiative, offering teacher training and resources for computing.

Function The National Centre for Computing Education provides professional development in computing education for primary and secondary schools and colleges, including face-to-face courses around England, and remote and online courses. It provides a repository of teaching resources for computing through its website, teachcomputing.org. It also offers additional support through Isaac Computer Science, [1], a free online platform for GCSE and A level computer science students and teachers. The National Centre is operated by a network of school-based Computing Hubs teachcomputing.org/hubs, geographically distributed around England. These Hubs ensure that the programme is school-led and reflects the needs of teachers on the ground.

History The centre was set up following the January 2016 government report Digital Skills for the UK Economy which highlighted the digital skills gap in the UK economy, produced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which looked at research carried out by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), which itself closed in 2017. Funding of £84m was announced in the November 2017 United Kingdom budget to upskill around 8000 computer science teachers. Simon Peyton Jones FRS, of Microsoft Research, was appointed as the organisation's chairman in March 2019. In 2023, the Department for Education renewed its funding for STEM Learning to deliver the next phase of its national support for computing education in England.

Chair Simon Peyton Jones FRS, of Microsoft Research, was appointed as the organisation's chairman in March 2019. It has been created by STEM Learning at the University of York, the BCS (British Computer Society) and the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It is funded by the Department for Education. The Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge will also provide assistance.

Network of computing hubs

North East England Cardinal Hume Catholic School, Gateshead in Tyne and Wear Carmel College, Darlington, with Carmel College Sixth Form Kings Priory School, Tynemouth in Tyne and Wear

North West England The Fallibroome Academy, Cheshire Priestley College, Warrington Tameside College, Ashton-under-Lyne

Yorkshire and the Humber All Saints Roman Catholic School, York, South Bank, York Bingley Grammar School, West Yorkshire Harrogate Grammar School, North Yorkshire

East Midlands Beauchamp College, Oadby in Leicestershire Denbigh School, Milton Keynes (for Northamptonshire) The Priory Academy LSST in Lincoln, England

West Midlands Bishop Challoner Catholic College, Kings Heath The Chase School, Malvern, Worcestershire City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire

East of England Chesterton Community College, Chesterton, Cambridge Dereham Neatherd High School, Dereham in Norfolk Saffron Walden County High School, Saffron Walden in Essex Sandringham School, Marshalswick, St Albans in Hertfordshire West Suffolk College, Suffolk Westcliff High School for Girls, Southend-on-Sea in Essex

Greater London Newstead Wood School, Orpington in Bromley

South East England The Mathematics and Science Learning Centre at the University of Southampton is a delivery partner.

Bohunt School, Liphook in Hampshire Dartford Grammar School, Kent Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, Kent Park House School, Newbury, Berkshire St Clement Danes School, Chorleywood in Hertfordshire

South West England The Castle School, Taunton Exeter Mathematics School, a sixth-form in Exeter in Devon Pate's Grammar School, Cheltenham Truro and Penwith College, Cornwall

See also Micro Bit National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics in south Sheffield

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Centre for Computing Education

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Centre for Computing Education claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to National Centre for Computing Education before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about National Centre for Computing Education ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of National Centre for Computing Education

In research: National Centre for Computing Education appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses National Centre for Computing Education in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: National Centre for Computing Education is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2018 establishments in England, British Computer Society, Computer science education in the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Centre for Computing Education outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study National Centre for Computing Education in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Centre for Computing Education means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain National Centre for Computing Education out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Centre for Computing Education in simple terms?

The National Centre for Computing Education is a government-funded initiative, offering teacher training and resources for computing. Function The National Centre for Computing Education provides professional development in computing education for primary and secondary schools and colleges, includi…

Why does National Centre for Computing Education matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study National Centre for Computing Education?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on National Centre for Computing Education.